PPWR: what penalties apply
if your packaging is not compliant?

Since 12 August 2026, every item of packaging placed on the EU market must have its declaration of conformity, and the distributor must check, before selling it, that the packaging bears its manufacturer's contact details. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, known as the PPWR, provides for inspections to enforce this, but it leaves each Member State to set its own fines.

1Are there PPWR penalties today?

Not yet in France, in the sense of a fine. The PPWR is a regulation: it applies directly as written, but it leaves each Member State to lay down its own penalties.

Article 68 of the EU Regulation

Article 68 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 requires each Member State to lay down its penalty regime by 12 February 2027 at the latest. Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. For the rules on excess packaging, banned formats and reuse (Articles 24 to 29), they must include administrative fines.

The French bill

In France, the penalties go through the bill adapting French law to EU law (No. 2518, in French), adopted by the Senate on 18 February 2026. Its Article 48, which deals with the packaging Regulation, would apply to the PPWR the inspections and penalties that the French Environmental Code already provides for chemicals and batteries. It would also make breaches of the substance limits, heavy metals and PFAS, an offence.

The bill is awaiting the National Assembly, which had not yet voted on it as at 6 November 2026. Until then, no amount specific to the PPWR exists in French law.

2Which penalties already apply?

2 mechanisms already exist in law, without waiting for the French act: withdrawal from the market, possible today, and the French EPR fine, from 1 January 2027.

A ban on sale or a withdrawal

The Regulation deals separately with formal non-compliance (Article 62): a missing or incorrectly drawn up declaration of conformity, incomplete technical documentation, or manufacturer details missing from the packaging. The Member State first requires the company to put an end to it. If it persists, the State prohibits making the packaging available or has it recalled or withdrawn from the market. A manufacturer, importer or distributor with reason to believe that packaging is not compliant must also, on its own initiative, bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it (Articles 15, 18 and 19).

The manufacturer must also hand over its documents within 10 days of a reasoned request from the authority (Article 15). In France, according to French customs, the competent authority is the direction générale de la prévention des risques (DGPR, the French risk prevention directorate); customs may suspend the release of imported goods and ask the DGPR to check their conformity. The inspection powers that the French Environmental Code provides for chemicals and batteries do not yet cover the PPWR: Article 48 of the bill is meant to extend them to it.

Fines under the French EPR scheme for professional packaging

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), which has applied to catering packaging in France since March 2024, extends to all professional (B2B) packaging on 1 January 2027. ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) asks companies to join a producer responsibility organisation (PRO, éco-organisme in French) before 31 December 2026. A company that does not join falls under Article L. 541-9-5 of the French Environmental Code, in force since 2021:

• an administrative fine of up to €7,500 per unit or per tonne of product for a legal entity, and €1,500 for a natural person;
• a periodic penalty payment of up to €20,000 per day until the company complies;
• a fine of up to €30,000 for a company that does not register with the EPR scheme's register, does not fill it in or does not display its unique identifier (identifiant unique, or IDU).

The same bill would tighten this regime. Government amendment 513, adopted in the Senate, replaces the €7,500 amount with 1% of worldwide turnover excluding taxes. It also allows the authority to demand the contributions for the 3 previous years, which the company would have had to pay in any case, and to publish the penalty.

French Senate, February 2026

Government amendment on French EPR penalties

Bill adapting French law to EU law, Article 48, amendment No. 513 (revised)

The amendment, adopted in plenary, rewrites Article L. 541-9-5 of the French Environmental Code. The ceiling of €7,500 per tonne becomes 1% of worldwide turnover excluding taxes, and the minister may demand the contributions for the 3 previous years after a formal notice of 2 months. It covers EPR in general, packaging included, and will only enter into force once the National Assembly has voted.

Take an SME that places 12 tonnes of cardboard boxes and 3 tonnes of film on the market, above the flat rate for small volumes. At the 2027 rates of Citeo Pro, a French PRO, its annual contribution comes to around €1,270 excl. VAT, as set out in our article on the French EPR scheme. The legal ceiling of the current fine reaches €112,500, a ceiling that the minister adjusts according to tonnages, the duration of the breach and the PROs' fee schedules.

3What are the risks beyond the fine?

The first risk comes from customers, and it travels along the supply chain.

The distributor that stops selling

Article 19 requires the distributor to check, before selling, the labelling, the manufacturer details and the producer's registration in the register. If it has reason to believe that packaging is not compliant, it refrains from selling it until the situation is corrected. A retailer therefore does not need an inspection to delist a product whose packaging is in doubt.

The customer that asks for evidence

A customer may ask for a "PPWR certificate", a document that the Regulation does not provide for. Depending on its role, it expects a copy of the declaration or the evidence it needs for its own. A supplier that cannot answer looks unprofessional and may lose the contract, without any authority having stepped in. Our test "am I affected by the PPWR?" helps you establish your role in the chain.

4What to do before the penalties apply

The French EPR scheme extends to all professional packaging on 1 January 2027, and the French PPWR penalties must be in place by 12 February 2027 at the latest.

3 things need doing, in this order:

• join a PRO before 31 December 2026, Citeo Pro, Léko Pro or Twiice in France, according to their fee schedules and services (in French), and obtain your unique identifier;
• inventory your packaging, reference by reference, and state for each one who is the manufacturer, importer or distributor within the meaning of the Regulation;
• draw up the declaration and documentation for the packaging of which you are the manufacturer, starting with what has been required since August 2026: heavy metals, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in contact with food, and weight and volume reduction under the 1994 rule, which remains in force until the end of 2029.

At Projet Celsius, we find it most useful to handle EPR and PPWR compliance from the same inventory. The tonnages by material that the PRO asks for and the list of packaging of which you are the manufacturer come out of the same work, reference by reference: handled separately, you pay for it 2 times.

For an SME or a mid-cap company (ETI in French), we recommend a technical consultancy for this first inventory, and that is the work we do. Your team then keeps it up to date in-house. At Projet Celsius, allow around €5,000 excl. VAT for an SME, and €10,000 to €15,000 excl. VAT with EPR, the files and follow-up, depending on the number of references. Our article on the ways to get support compares providers.

5Key takeaways

• As at 6 November 2026, no fine specific to the PPWR has been voted in France; the Regulation requires one to be set by 12 February 2027 at the latest.
• The French adaptation bill, adopted by the Senate on 18 February 2026, is awaiting the National Assembly.
• Packaging without a declaration or documentation can already be banned from sale or withdrawn if it is not corrected.
• The French EPR fine, up to €7,500 per tonne, applies from 1 January 2027 to any company that has not joined a PRO.
• The distributor must refrain from selling packaging it has doubts about, and customers are already asking for their evidence.

Our PPWR timeline places each deadline, and our guide to the declaration of conformity sets out what it must contain.

Further resources

Frequently asked questions

1When will France set its PPWR penalties?

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 requires each Member State to lay down its penalty regime by 12 February 2027 at the latest (Article 68). In France, this goes through the bill adapting French law to EU law, adopted by the Senate on 18 February 2026 and not yet voted by the National Assembly as at 6 November 2026.

2Who enforces the PPWR in France?

According to French customs, the competent authority is the direction générale de la prévention des risques (DGPR) of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Customs is not the market surveillance authority for packaging, but it may suspend the release of imported goods and ask the DGPR to check their conformity.

3Is the €7,500 per tonne a PPWR fine?

No. It is the ceiling of the French EPR administrative fine, laid down in Article L. 541-9-5 of the French Environmental Code since 2021, for a company that fails to meet its producer obligations, such as joining a PRO. It applies to professional packaging from 1 January 2027.

4Can a micro-enterprise be penalised?

Yes, like any company that places packaging on the market. The Regulation does lighten its burden: if its packaging supplier is established in the EU, that supplier is deemed to be the manufacturer for the declaration and the documentation (Article 15). In every case, the fine or the withdrawal targets whoever bears the obligation.

5Am I liable if my supplier is not compliant?

If you are the manufacturer within the meaning of the PPWR, in principle the brand that appears on the packaging, yes: you sign the declaration and answer for it, even if the packaging comes from a supplier. The supplier must pass on to you all the information and documentation required (Article 16).

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